Papa Juan's Mexican Grille — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

On a recent road trip though Iowa, a stop in Cedar Rapids brought me to Papa Juan’s Mexican Grille. There were three restaurants in close proximity to my hotel and all three had Google Reviews. I chose to go to Papa Juan’s because the owner had replied to every review. This told me the place was local and the owner was involved. He was in the restaurant when I showed up on a Friday night, and we ended up chatting for most of my visit.

The first thing I enjoyed was a margarita on the rocks. The flavor was unexpected, bordering more on the sweet side than I was expecting, but it created a great contrast with the salty rim. My next drink was the house special, a margarita made in an aged oak barrel. That was, hands down, the best margarita I have ever had. The oak flavor was unmistakable, clean, sharp, and smooth. The deep golden color of the drink was a fantastic visual. I can see having this drink with a wide variety of food and wished for a nice rare steak as I know the flavor profiles would be a perfect complement.

I chose the lime shrimp street tacos for dinner based on the recommendation of the owner. I was expecting two small tacos in corn shells, but instead got two rather large tacos in grilled flour shells that were stuffed full. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and packed with great lime flavor. The tacos also included a somewhat chunky tomato pico and generous servings of sour cream and guacamole. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the tacos, which were basic in nature but filled with flavor.

The sides I chose were refried beans and asada potatoes. Both were tasty and a good add.

Papa Juan’s is only half of the restaurant. Stefano’s Italian Restaurant is the other half. Had I not been in the mood for a margarita and Mexican, I would have ordered everything on Stefano’s menu. It all sounds that good! I did order dessert from the menu, cannoli which had been made earlier that day. The filling was creamy and absolutely delicious with the exact amount of chocolate chips to add attention, not detract. The shells were soft and chewy, substantial.

The total for my dinner was so low, I actually had to do a double take to be sure they had included everything I ordered. It was a fantastic meal with great service at a great price. I give it two thumbs up, 5 stars, the Best of Cedar Rapids...

Let me preface this review by stating that we WANTED to like this place. It seemed like the perfect solution to the adventurous and picky eaters in our family. There's American, Mexican and Italian under one roof, something for everyone, right?

We started with chips and salsa. The chips were pretty good, wasn't expecting hand made or freshly cooked, and I wasn't disappointed. The salsa tasted like it came out of a can. We read reviews that it wasn't that great but the queso was good. Tried the white queso and it had a funny after taste, like it was made from a bag of powder. Something like you'd expect to find on the Ryan's buffet line. Not terrible, but not great either.

My son's meal was the best of the lot. He ordered the chicken strip basket with corn and fries. All of that was great. My daughter ordered the baked penne pasta with shrimp. The first shrimp was good, the second and subsequent shrimp were rubbery. The pasta was okay but the red sauce bore a striking similarity to the salsa. My wife had the seafood chimichanga with shrimp. The innards were good but the whole thing was smothered in that queso which kind of ruined it. I had the festive rice bowl with steak. It was supposed to be like steak fajitas in a bowl on top of rice with queso and cheese baked on top. It sounded amazing, what I got was something out of a geriatric cafeteria at an old folk's home. More, and way too much, of that funny tasting queso with diced onion and peppers and steak on the Spanish rice. The price would have been okay if not for the queso. The steak was alright but had a definite cheap taste to it. I ended up scraping as much of the cheese off as I could and was able to finish most of it. since my dinner came with two sides I ordered a Caesar side salad and their Mexica potatoes. Neither was stellar. The potatoes tasted like they were fresh out of a freezer bag and only made warm, not cooked.

The wait staff was very courteous and helpful. Kudos to them! Drinks were good.

I don't think we'll be coming back. everything just tasted like it came from a bad cafeteria, I'd rather eat...

This trip was my frist trip, and you can bet it will be my last one as well. My friend and I went on a Sunday during lunch. There was 1 waitress and 1 bartender with a pretty full restaurant. We had to wait about 15 minutes before we even got our menus. Another 15 before we got asked for drinks, which we decied to order then, because we weren't sure when the waitress would be back!

It was a while before we got our food. Which by the way, the "Mexican food" is far from mexican!! My order was correct, but my friend ordered a burrito with rice and chicken. He recieved a burrito with only beans and nothing else. We were offered no discount, we were told that she could remake it or he could go without eating and she would take it off the bill. The manager came out and made it known that "oh, we made the order correct, we just delivered it to the wrong table". They were appologetic, but that is not our fault and we were not offered any compensation what so ever.

The prices for food - for the lunch menu - were decent, and the portion was quite big as well. BUT, the margaritas! HAH, my gosh! $6.00 for a 10 oz margarita made with cheap tequila. Also the soda tasted like the heads on the soda machine needed a good cleaning.

I see a lot of comments about the facility on here. The facility has been updated and doesn't seem too dirty. But the service needs...